The present invention relates to an information-inspection system for data-processing equipment for obtaining electric signals representing auditory, visual and/or tactile information for vision-impaired typists, of the type indicated in the preamble to claim 1.
Various information systems for data-processing equipment in particular electric automated typewriters or electronic computers, for instance personal computers, have been developed which deliver electric signals in a form of presentation which can be noted by vision-impaired typists, namely, depending on the degree of impairment in vision, in visual, auditory and/or tactile form.
These information inspection systems are developed as an expansion of the existing hardware of an electric automated typewriter or electronic computer and have an interface which is connected to the data bus of the automated typewriter or electronic computer; for the reliable operation of this interface a modification of the software of the automated typewriter or of the electronic computer is, however, necessary in order that the characters or control information, for instance status reports, can be presented audibly, visually or tactilely by the end devices, corresponding to the degree of impairment of vision of the operator. The disadvantage in the use of such an interface, which is generally arranged as a pluggable board within the housing of the automated typewriter, electronic computer or keyboard of the electronic computer, resides in the fact that, as a general rule, the operating software of the automated typewriter or of the electronic computer must also be modified; this leads to the result that in most cases the software for the electronic computer or automated typewriter, which is available in most cases at moderate cost and in large diversity, no longer operates reliably.